A Lady Called Camille
by JemilyPLLGleek78-10
Summary: This is a snippet from something much, much bigger I am doing. It has the Jareau family – Sandy, Michael, & Elijah. You may recognize the title as the nickname given to Hurricane Camille, a Category 5 hurricane that hit Mississippi and Louisiana in August of 1969. This is the Jareaus' experience with that Hurricane. This will now be mentioned in "The Chronicles of Jennifer Jareau".


**Disclaimers: I do not own CM or its characters. I do own all OCs, including Caleb, Emma, and Elijah.  
Spoilers: none  
Rating: T**

**Notes: Jo-Jo is Emma-Jo Faith. Her twin brother is Caleb Jeremiah or CJ. They are 34 months old. Elijah is 18 months old. The extra little girls (Katherine, Kelley-Elizabeth, Martha, and Cynthia) are Michael's little sisters.**

**Notes: The timeframe of when Hurricane Camille made landfall in Mississippi is approximate.**

**I am not sure how old my readers are, if anyone remembers this or experienced this Hurricane. However, to be on the safe side, I am goin to be put up a trigger warning for this chapter.**

**Trigger Warning: news coverage on a real Hurricane, details of path and timeline. Please be cautious if this is something that unsettles you.**

* * *

_**August 1**__**st**__**, 1969**_

* * *

**_*Jareau Residence*_**

Today is Friday and that means it is a Sleepover Day. Eli, Jo-Jo, and CJ get to spend the day, the night, and all weekend with their cousins at Kenneth and Karen's house.

Also today is the start of something that could be very serious.

A storm is forming out in the ocean. Meteorologists predicts that it will turn into a hurricane in a few days.

They can start to predict, although they are not sure, of where it may go. Sandy and Michael keep an eye on it, because if it does hit the United States, it may come up on the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. And where they live right now, – Jackson, – will be an almost direct hit.

"What do you think, Honey?" Michael asks as he and his wife enjoy a cup of coffee in front of the TV in the kitchen, a new thing that they splurged on this earlier this summer.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it will go more west, Florida and the Virginias. It may not even hit us."

Nodding in agreement, he muses, "Still, we should take precautions. Better to be safe than sorry."

So they keep track of the path of the storm, over the next few days, and Michael begins calling around, to see if there are any family members up north that they could stay with.

* * *

**_*August 3_****_rd_****_, 1969*_**

By Sunday afternoon, the third, he has made arrangements for them to go up to Kansas, and stay with some extended family – Christine and Robert, who have 2 kids of their own, Lee, who is Jo-Jo and Caleb's age, and Anthony, who is Elijah's age.

"Thank you so much, Robert," Michael keeps saying it; he feels like he has to or needs to because Christine and Robert have never even met them, but the only other closest relative would be all the way up in Maine or Illinois.

They didn't have to, but Christine and Robert are opening up their house to two strangers who are going to bring their children, making the total of kids 5 kids under the age three. That is a lot to deal with.

"Michael, as I have said, it is no problem at all!" Robert chuckles a bit. "Come on, whenever you feel you need to, all right? Lee and Tony would love to play with your boys, and I am sure we can get a couple of little girls over for your daughter, Emma to play with."

"We are just waiting to see what happens." Michael tells him. "We may be the by the end of this week or the middle of next week."

The two men chat for a little bit longer before hanging up.

* * *

**_*August Fourth – Tropical Depression*_**

"Did you hear?" Katherine, Michael's younger sister, asks when she comes over Monday around lunchtime.

She is going out with some friends to the Drive-In Movie Theatre later tonight, but is over right now because Cyndie, Kelley-Elizabeth, and Emma all begged her to come play dress-up with them.

Right now, she is talking about how the storm out on the ocean has officially been upgraded to a Tropical Depression.

"Yes, it was the first thing on this morning while Sandy was making breakfast. Thankfully, the kids are too young to understand what was happening."

"Are you and Sandy going to take the kids and leave?"

"We aren't sure yet. We are waiting to see what the path of the storm will be for sure, or if it will actually turn into a hurricane."

"Mom and Dad are going to be leaving soon. They are waiting to see what the path will be also; however, they said even if it hits Florida, they are going to leave, just to be safe."

"We will probably leave to be safe, as well," Michael agrees. "We can't risk it now that we are parents, I would never put my children through the horrors of having to climb onto the roof as we wait to be rescued."

* * *

**_*August Tenth*_**

"Rawr! I'm going to get you!" Michael yells as he runs through the grass of his parents' backyard, chasing Emma, CJ, and his little sister, Kelley-Elizabeth.

"No, Bubba Michael!"

But Michael grabs her anyway and holds her above his head, pretending to "eat" her by blowing raspberries on her belly. The 6-year-old, now no longer a "little" girl, but in kindergarten and already above her peers in her smarts, soaks up the attention from her big brother.

"Bubba Michael! Can I spend the night wif you tonight? Please, please, please?" Kelley-Elizabeth begs later when Kenneth is making a campfire outside, as per usual on clear afternoons like this one.

"Only if Daddy says yes, all right, Kelby?"

Kelley-Elizabeth nods eagerly, and runs off to find Kenneth, who is now inside.

And to also find her sisters.

At least for tonight, maybe they can escape the monster.

* * *

**_*August Thirteen*_**

"We are having a really long over-sleep!" Kelly-Elizabeth sings as she skips around the kitchen. And it is true – the last three days, Martha, Cyndie, and Kelley-Elizabeth have been at their big brother's house.

They stay there during the day. They go outside, play in the sprinkler, ride their bikes to the park or the library, and read books under the shade of the tree in the front yard.

Today, Michael is going to meet them in town for lunch. They are going to the park first, though, and Cyndie is packing a backpack of sandwiches, cookies, bottles of Kool-Aide, and of course, their mom's homemade marshmallows.

Once the backpack is done, Cynthia gives it to Martha, because her little sister, now 9, loves to carry it. Cynthia watches her littlest sister, Kelley-Elizabeth, dance around the kitchen.

"Come on, Sissy Cyndie!" the 6-year-old calls out. "Sing wif me! – We are having a really long over-sleep!" She grabs Cyndie's hand, and the two dance and jump and sing,

"We don't have to go home! We are having a really long over-sleep! We are staying at Bubba Michael's house!"

"Are you ready to go to the park, Kelley-Elizabeth?"

"Yep! Yep, yep, yep! We're gonna go on slide and the monkey bars!"

"Come on, you can ride your scooter while Martha and I ride our bicycles."

They get to the park and have fun running around – playing tag, hide-'n-seek, house, princesses, etc. – and soon it is time to leave and go meet Michael in town. They eat their sandwiches with him and get a surprise – one soda each.

Then, they head home while Michael goes to his afternoon job, promising to be home by five o'clock in the afternoon.

They are happy to be spending the night. It means they will not have to be home, waiting in fear, in their bedrooms, for the clock to strike _12:00 a.m._

Because they is when the monster appears in their room.

And they really, _really_ do not want to see the monster anytime soon.

So, they will "spend the night" with Michael and Sandy, for as long as possible, until school probably, so they can get a few happy, plentiful nights of sleep.

* * *

**_*August 14th*_**

"It's getting worse," Sandy says the next morning, as Emma, CJ, Eli, Cynthia, Martha, and Kelley-Elizabeth gather around the kitchen table. Kelley-Elizabeth is making funny faces at Eli while Cyndie and Martha are entertaining CJ and Jo-Jo.

Sandy speaks in hushed whispers, as she and Michael gather around the TV, waiting for the bacon to need to be flipped on the frying pan.

Their voices have a background noise of popping and sizzling pork, Eli's giggles, and Martha's laughs as she watches Cyndie try to teach Jo-Jo and CJ Pat-a-Cake.

"I know," Michael agrees. "It's in the Cayman Islands now, and it's saying the path will most likely be Mississippi and Louisiana."

"Have you called yet?"

"Yes," As he flips the bacon, he checks on kids, before continuing, "Some family up in Kansas, – Christine and Robert, – have offered their home for as long as we might need. They have two kids, Lee and Jacob, for the boys and Em to play with, and they say they will have plenty of room for us."

Sandy nods in confirmation.

"Good. Maybe we should begin packing?"

"That is a good idea. Just be sure to get diapers for the kids, we can always wash and rewear outfits. And also, get enough formula for Eli."

Sandy nods to this also. And she goes upstairs to at least start a bag of clothes for the kids. Pajamas, shorts, shirts, onesies for Eli, etc.

This goes on for a couple of days. Sandy tries to get her parents to leave also, and her siblings.

But they refuse, saying they have lived here all their lives, and have been through numerous hurricanes, including Hurricane Ethel 9 years ago, and dozens of others from Regina's childhood, going all the way back to the 1900s, when Regina's parents, Sandy's grandparents, Augie and Margaret, were children themselves.

_Nobody has died yet_; Regina huffed out at Sandy, while Fredrick added _people just want to be scared little chickens_.

Sandy and Michael begin packing up their trailer. They have clothes and valuables like photographs of the children, and homemade items like blankets with the kids' names stitched on them, and plenty of toys Emma, CJ, and Eli each.

Michael's own parents have already packed up already, along with a trailer of their own, with their valuables, because if the storm does hit here in Mississippi, there is no doubt their house will be in the direct path.

* * *

**_*August Sixteenth – Hurricane Camille, Cat. 5*_**

"Michael," His wife's broken voice gets his attention right away. He looks over from his place at the table, where he is giving Elijah some pieces of scrambled eggs.

The news bulletin is on the TV.

It's official.

The storm has been upped to a hurricane, but not only that…

…it is now a Category 5 Hurricane, the most powerful one there is.

It has also been named "Camille" but is being nicknamed "The Lady Called Camille."

This is getting serious, because just yesterday, it was only a Category 3, so it must be powerful to be upgraded two spots in just 24 hours.

Residents in its path in Mississippi and Louisiana have been warned to evacuate, and Michael and Sandy's neighborhood's capacity has been knocked down to about a fifth of those who normally reside here.

There are officials who come around to the houses, knocking on the doors. If the residents refuse to evacuate, the officials are to ask for that person's next of kin, so that they can be notified if said resident perishes in Hurricane Camille.

Michael has already had his siblings and dad help him board up their houses. The windows have giant pieces of wood nailed onto them.

Michael looks to Sandy and knows that they have to do.

They need to pack what little things they have left – toiletries, the diaper bags, and a backpack full of toys to entertain the kids on the drive, – and they need leave...

As soon as possible.

"Today, Honey," Michael tells her. "We'll leave tonight."

And Sandy nods because leaving early is responsible. Leaving early means they won't be caught in the path, in the early rain and thunderstorms that precede the actual hurricane.

Hurricane Camille is in the Gulf of Mexico right now. They are expecting landfall within the next 24–36 hours.

* * *

**_*August Sixteenth – approximately 27 hours before landfall (4:30 p.m.)*_**

Later that day, in the late afternoon, Michael and Sandy pack up the car and give one last attempt at getting Sandy's parents and siblings to follow them.

They don't have to drive, however, because Christine and Robert have sent a private plane to pick them up, and they just have to drive to airstrip of where the plane will be.

"Charlie, _please_," Sandy calls as she enters her brother's house. "Come with us! There is plenty of room in the trailer for your things, and I am sure Christine and Robert would not mind you taking their plane to where you are going. It will be so much safer to do that; you wouldn't get stuck in traffic for hours trying to leave town."

"Sandra, stop!" Charlie is getting fed up with his sister's hounding.

Sandy finally snaps, tired of his calm-down-we-still–have time attitude, "No, Charles! I will not stop. You are risking your family's lives. Your daughters and your wife. You need to do the responsible thing and _leave this fucking town_!"

She knows they are leaving, because they have already packed up, but they are going to wait to leave, until tomorrow, around noon or so, far too late to give Sandy any comfort.

She stops herself from speaking anymore.

"You know what; _whatever_. Do whatever you fucking want to Charles. I am going with my children and my husband and we are going to do the right thing. And we are getting out here. I pray you are able to do the same."

With that, she leaves, she gets back in the car, and Michael begins driving. They are on a road that does not have much traffic, as it is just a side road that leads to the highway people take out of Jackson and upstate.

* * *

**_*August Seventeenth – Approximately 10 hours before landfall*_**

Robert and Christine also have a TV in their kitchen, and that is where Sandy and Michael finds themselves the next morning, while Robert feeds Eli and his own son, 18-month-old Anthony, some scrambled eggs, Cheerios, strawberry yogurt with milk.

Lee and Anthony are having a blast with CJ and Eli, and Emma has made a new friend with Robert's youngest sister, Jackie, who is 7 years old.

They watch the news again as the kids eat. This time, some of Robert's other siblings, and his parents, Marie and Joseph, arrive for breakfast as well.

"Mommy!" Jackie squeals as she sees her mother, father, and older siblings come in. She had been with Robert and Christine for the last week, and had really missed her mom and dad.

"Hey, Mom," Robert greets as he hugs his mother. "This is Michael and Sandy Jareau, and their kids, Emma, Caleb, and Elijah. They live down in Mississippi, where Hurricane Camille is set to hit."

Immediately, Marie's face is one of concern, but also relief that these people are no longer in the path of one of the most powerful hurricanes.

"Oh, my. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Jareau, I am so happy that you and your family were able to get away. Please, make sure that you stay as long as you need. We have plenty of room."

CJ, Emma, and Eli bond quickly with Joseph and Marie. They are like the second pair of loving grandparents that they have always wanted, but never got from Sandy's side of the family.

**_:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/_**

**_*Later – 4:30 p.m. – approx. 3 hours before landfall*_**

The adults watch the TV all day while they follow the coverage of Hurricane Camille down in Mississippi. It is 4:30 here in Kansas, but an hour later in Mississippi, and there was a curfew set for 4 o'clock sharp for the residents of Mississippi and Louisiana that stayed down there.

While this is happening, Sandy calls her parents and siblings, Charlie and Judy. The weather people are saying Hurricane Camille is just a few hours away from making a direct hit on the United States.

It is too late for them to leave. All they can do is hunker down, keep their kids together, and the younger ones safe.

"Mrs. Jareau," Marie calls out from the kitchen of her own house. "Were you able to get in touch with your family?"

Sweet, sweet Marie. She is so concerned about this woman's parents and siblings. She is so kind, to her children, grandchildren, and even these strangers' kids. And Sandy actually finds herself wondering what kind of life she and her own brothers and sisters would have had, if Marie and Joseph were their parents.

"No," It's something she hates to admit. She feels herself cracking, the fear of what is happening to her family overwhelming her.

"They said…they said that the power is probably out, down where we live. We live in Jackson, and it is almost in the absolute direct path of the Hurricane."

It is almost five now, six down there, just a couple of hours before Hurricane Camille is officially arriving in the United States.

"Oh, Honey, I am so sorry. We'll say an extra prayer for them tonight, all right? They have made their choices, and now all we can do is hope they are being as safe as they possibly can be."

It isn't what Sandy wants to hear, of course, but in Marie's soothing "mother" voice, it calms her, and besides, she knows the older woman is right – Regina and Fredrick made a choice, and she hopes to God, it was as right it can be.

* * *

**Ok so this is something different from everything that I have done so far for CM. Please tell me what you thought. Obviously, being 1969, neither Em nor Jen have been born, but as you can see, this does have Jen's parents and brother, Elijah, in it.**

**There are tons of extra people, as you could probably tell. Review and let me know what you thought! There will be a part 2, if you want, that will have Sandy and Michael going back to Jackson, Mississippi to see what is left of their home after Hurricane Camille hit.**


End file.
